1 Samuel 16 – Samuel is then told to go out and go to Bethlehem to anoint a new king.  Samuel worries that Saul will be a danger to him, but he goes.  He offers sacrifice there and has Jesse’s sons brought before him one at a time—Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah and four others.  They are all fine men, but “The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (16:7).

The youngest son is David; he is out “keeping…

1 Samuel 15 – Samuel tells Saul that God is sending him to destroy the Amalekites for opposing the Israelites when they came up out of the desert on the way from Egypt years earlier.  Now all the Amalekites are to be destroyed or put under “the ban.”

Saul goes out with a huge force (200,000 soldiers, 10,000 from Judah). The Kenites (living amongst the Amalekites) are warned to remove themselves (the Kenites had helped Israel). 

Saul defeats the…

1 Samuel 14:24-52 -- Saul commits a “rash act” (14:24) in his enthusiasm.  He lays a curse on anyone who eats food before evening comes and the battle is over. It turns out Jonathan is the one who violates this ban.  He was not there and did not hear the oath, so when he eats honey and learns of the curse, he feels his father has been foolish.

In the victory of the day, the troops also take sheep and oxen and slaughter them, eating them with the blood in them.…

1 Samuel 14:1-23 – Jonathan goes down to the Philistine garrison without telling his father.  Back in the camp Saul has about 600 soldiers along with Ahijah, Eli's great-grandson.

Jonathan has, in many ways, the same virtues as we will later find in the young David.  He thinks even though the odds are against him, “it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (14:6). 

No one in the camp knows he…

1 Samuel 13 – The text is corrupted so we don’t know how old Saul was when he became king, but it says he served only two years by this translation. Eerdman’s suggests it must be 32 years since he was young when anointed and now has a son old enough to lead men in battle.  Three thousand Israelis serve in Saul’s army—two thousand under him and one thousand under his son Jonathan.  When Jonathan defeats the Philistines at Geba, the enemy muster a…

1 Samuel 11 – Nahash besieges Jabesh-gilead.  They plead to make a treaty with him, and he agrees—if they will permit him to gash out their right eyes (right!). 

They ask for a week to see if they can come up with a savior amongst the tribes of Israel.  Saul gets the request, and “the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled” (11:6).  He cuts a yoke of oxen in pieces and sends the pieces throughout the country,…

1 Samuel 10 – Samuel anoints Saul, and then tells him that as a sign to him that he has been anointed, he will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb and they will tell his that the donkeys he was looking for have been found by his father—that his father is now more worried about him than about them.  And then he will meet three men going to Bethel with sacrifices (3 kids, 3 loaves and a skin of wine).  They will give two of the loaves; and after that he will meet a band of prophets in a…

1 Samuel 9 – We are introduced to Saul’s family, a wealthy Benjaminite family from Gibeah (just north of Jerusalem), and to Saul, “the most handsome man in Israel” (9:2) and tall—“head and shoulders taller than anyone else in the land” (9:2).

Kish, Saul’s father, sends Saul after some stray donkeys, and Saul searches everywhere for them.  Just when he is getting ready to give up, the boy who is with him suggests they consult Samuel, a man reputed to be a…

1 Samuel 7 – The people take the ark to Kiriath-jearim [thought by many to be today’s Abu Ghosh, 10 miles west of Jerusalem], to the house of Abinadab on the hill. His son Eleazar was given charge of it.  It remains there for 20 years. 

There is a period of revival during this time.  “Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the Lord only” (7:4). Samuel called the people together at Mizpah to do penance and fast.  When the Philistines hear of…

So, I will resume where I took off last June, with 1 Samuel and Augustine. I will also be adding in another Old Testament reading, so that I am keeping up with the annual schedule. We'll be caught up in a month and then I'll go back to just one OT reading each day.

1 Samuel 5 – The ark is brought to Ashdod (south of Aphek, near the coast) and placed in a shrine to the god Dagon. The presence of the ark causes problems for the idol…